LVC will delay the 2021 spring semester by one week, with classes set to begin in-person on Monday, Feb. 1.
“Our healthcare partners advise us that COVID-19 cases will likely continue to rise, peaking in mid-January just before we planned to re-open campus,” LVC President Dr. James MacLaren said in a letter. “Therefore, we have adjusted the Spring 2021 academic calendar and pushed back the opening by one week.”
LVC’s return-to-campus plan includes “entry testing before students and employees arrive, and census testing regularly throughout the semester.”
For the Fall 2020 semester, LVC had originally intended to hold in-person classes until Thanksgiving Break, a plan that was nearly realized except for an additional week of virtual learning that was added prior to the break in response to positive test results on campus.
Prior to arriving on campus, all students and employees who will be on campus for the semester must complete a self-administered COVID-19 test. All tests will be mailed out to students and staff and will include instructions for completing them. In order to step foot on campus, a negative test must be proven. Students are asked to deposit their test in a FedEx box before 3 p.m. on the day they are tested.
Any student who refuses to participate in testing may not return to campus and must take all classes remotely. The costs associated with re-entry testing will be covered by LVC.
LVC will additionally conduct weekly census COVID-19 testing of students and employees for in-person classes, as well as enforcing the use of LVC’s daily digital symptom tracker. The symptom tracker helps to reveal any possible COVID-19 cases on campus. Daily results are either a green checkmark or a red X and students must report a green checkmark to attend classes in-person. LVC staff will monitor the data closely on a daily basis and contact students and employees accordingly.
“Testing rates will be scientifically based and informed by our healthcare partners and public health guidance,” LVC mentions in the return-to-campus plan.
LVC’s COVID-19 dashboard displays testing data, specifically the numbers of positive cases, negative cases and those awaiting test results. The dashboard can be viewed here.
Read all of LebTown’s COVID-19 coverage here.
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